Announcer:
The following
program is a production of
WLRN Public Television.

[ music ]

Arva Parks:
South Florida is one of the
oldest human habitation sites

in North America, and
that makes the Miami story

so interesting as one of
the oldest habitation sites

and also one of the newest
major American cities.

Bob Carr:
We are now documenting,
fully,

the fact that the
Tequesta Indians

and their ancestors were
residing on the Miami River

for at least 3,000 years.

We have now found evidence of
this long continuous occupation

right up to the point
of European contact

in the 16th century.

[ Music ]

The Tequesta are
Native Americans

who resided in
southeastern Florida.

We know their name because
when the Spanish arrived

in south Florida in
the 16th century,

this is the name that
they were told.

We know for sure that Ponce
de Leon was in Biscayne Bay

in July, 1513, and in
his journal, he wrote,

"Reached Tequesta."
Chequesta with a C.

And we know that the Spanish
tend to name habitation sites

after the chief.

Now, we don't know for sure that
Ponce de Leon came ashore,

but it makes sense.

He's the one that
called it Chequesta.

Bob:
This site is a window
into the Tequestan.

This window is giving us
a wonderful view

of prehistoric life up
to 3,000 years ago.

Arva:
By some miracle, no one
has ever built on the site

of what they uncovering.

And that's extraordinary when
you think about the history of

the United States and the fact
that people were choosing

to live on the north bank of
the Miami River that long ago.

[ Music ]

Bob:
No one really who was involved
in archeology in a serious way

has any doubt as
to the importance of the site.

This is a rare opportunity, a
window into Miami's past

that probably will
never be seen again.

We're finding not only tens
of thousands of artifacts

and cultural remains,

but over 2,000 postholes
cut into the rock

is this huge area of circles
and linear alignments of
these postholes,

giving us a very rare glimpse of
what a prehistoric Tequesta town

may have looked like.

Ryan Franklin:
And the postholes
that are chalked

would have held posts
in the circular pattern

that you can follow
all the way around.

It would have been a
house of some sort.

We have, at this point,
ten circles

that all look
relatively similar.

The holes have similar
diameter, similar depth.

Where they're excavating
there is interesting because

as the elevation drops,
you get to this tidal zone.

And in the tidal zone, you
have probably the best intact

[inaudible] on the property,
which means we have the best

prehistoric material
coming from there.

You could see it's deep,
rich, black organic dirt.

And the reason it's rich and
organic like that is it's...

that's all the plant matter,
all the animal remains,

the shellfish, the fish.

And it builds up over time,
and it creates this really dark,

black organic material.

There's a lot of material
in there, a lot of artifacts,

a lot of ceramic, a lot
of animal bone.

Animal bone is mostly
turtle and shark and fish.

Bob:
Growing up in Miami,

I spent my childhood
exploring the Miami River

and becoming
very intimate with it.

This pottery is from...
probably the glaze one period.

In seventh grade, I had
asked the teacher,

"Who were the first people in
Miami, the earliest people?"

And her answer was,
"The Seminoles."

I thought, "Okay.
That makes sense.

They're Indians,
Native Americans."

A friend came to class one
day with a box of artifacts.

And he started showing pieces
of pottery and this beautiful ax

made out of a green stone.

And I said, "Well,
where did you find that?"

He said, "I found it
on the Miami River."

That began a lifetime
interest in archeology

because what he showed
me demonstrated

that there were much more
ancient people in Miami

than what I had ever
even conceived of.

And we now know through
the archeological record

that the Tequesta were
a people that resided
in southeast Florida

from what is currently
Boca Raton to the north,

southward to Key West

and westward to
Everglades National Park.

[ Music ]

They occupied a
major part of the Peninsula

and focused their principle town
at the mouth of the Miami River

because of its confluence
with Biscayne Bay.

This was the ideal location
for human habitation.

Not only did it provide a
transportation corridor

through the river going
directly into the Everglades,

but it also provided access
directly into the bay,

to what is now Miami Beach,
Fisher Island, Virginia Key.

They were a canoe culture in
the sense that they were

very dependent on dugout canoes.

I'm sure if we were looking
at a Tequesta today

we would find the males were
very strong and powerful

chest and shoulders from all
the canoeing they were doing.

They were able to
exploit tremendous

resources from
the reefs offshore

as well as the interior
Everglades and the Miami River.

The fishing for the Tequesta was
actually quite sophisticated

in some ways in the sense that
they were not just throwing

a line into the water,
but they actually had nets.

They would stretch the nets
across the Miami River

with the current changing.

They were really very adept
at taking advantage

of the local environment.

Had fishing wares from what we
can tell by simply constructing

with probably wood and netting
and funneling the fish

going into a particular place.

They could just seal that off
and actually keep the fish alive

if they wished for as
long as they needed to.

[ Music ]

Also, hunting
was very important.

We find lots of deer bones.

We find raccoons.
We find squirrels.

We find... even small rats,
reptiles, alligators, snakes.

What we don't find often are
panthers, bear, wolves

and of course, these are
the predators.

These are at the top
of the food chain

and probably not
very good to eat

and probably very dangerous
to hunt for that matter.

The Tequesta and the Indians in
general in south Florida

were one of the few native
peoples in North America

who developed a complex
socially stratified society

without the advantage
of agriculture.

And the reason is
because the maritime
resources were so extensive

that they were able to actually
develop this culture

just simply based on fishing.

[ Music ]

The Spanish arrive
in the 16th century.

They're greeted with
tremendous hostility.

The reason they're hostile in
part is because they've already

gotten word from Cuba and the
Bahamas from those native people

that when the Europeans arrive,
you better be ready

because it isn't going to
be a walk in the park.

So this very combative
relationship continues

for at least a hundred
or more years.

But eventually,
the Spanish contact,

through efforts of
Pedro Menendez

who was the founder
of St. Augustine,

arrives in Miami in 1567,
convinces the Tequesta

to allow him to put a fort
with a Spanish mission

at the mouth of the river.

Well, that enterprise doesn't
last every long

because there's warfare
and hostilities break out.

That attempt at creating
a mission at the mouth
of the river

occurs again in 1743.

Again with equally
disastrous results.

Arva:
The Spanish, they believe,
built behind the native village

so, if you think of Second
Avenue, of course, didn't exist,

as a dividing line in
a little bit of a way.

We don't know what's
under Second Avenue.

They did find
Spanish habitation sites.

Bob:
We have found archeological
evidence of Spanish occupation

at the mouth of the Miami River
by way of numerous

European artifacts including
from the mission several bells.

The changes that
occurred through time

is that because of trade,

because of the products
that the Europeans are bringing,

particularly the Spanish,
metal tools, rum,

which was the big
disintegrating factor

in native societies
all over the new world,

that we have in effect
the American holocaust.

All over the new world, millions
of Native Americans disappear.

They die initially as a result
of slavery, but most of them

as a result of diseases
brought by Europeans.

Arva:
Particularly small pox.

It really ran wild in
the native population.

Bob:
This big disintegration
of native culture

is now filled by the Seminoles
and what became the Miccosukees

who come into south Florida and
find themselves in direct combat

with these other remnant people.

Arva:
The last remaining Tequesta
asked for asylum in Cuba.

They intermarried
with the Cubans.

So in many ways, we may
have some of the genes

of these original people
back in south Florida today

with the arrival of the Cubans.

[ Music ]

Bob:
Most of this site will disappear
except for two of the circles

that will be preserved.

Arva:
If I had my 100% druthers,

there's no question
I would save the whole site

and make it open to the public
and explain the story.

The developers agreed to
expose what they believe

is the most important site
inside of a building.

Bob:
Two large very distinct circles,
circular features,

will be preserved and
interpreted to the public.

The site not only
has been recognized

as being something very
unusual and unique,

but probably able to be listed
on the National Register

of Historic Places and even
as a national landmark.

The best idea we could
come up with

because we couldn't
get a view during the day

that we were happy with
because of all the visual noise,

so we thought if we could
enhance that with light.

This was my idea.

I first looked at
electrical lighting and
other temporary systems

and was just not practical.

One of our workers came up with
the idea of using glow sticks.

We think it's going
to be 100% effective.

[ Music ]

The purpose of this drone
flight is to capture an image

that reveals all of this
Tequesta town

in one shot and one view.

This is going to give
us a bird's eye view of
the Tequesta village

in a way that has never
been seen by people

in the last 1,500 years.

This is something we
can't do on the ground.

We can reconstruct this
with maps and so forth.

That's what we're doing.

But being able to go up
500 feet above the ground

and seeing this
for the first time

perhaps similar to
the way it might have looked

in terms of the alignment
in Tequesta times.

This is something
that's never been done.

Wow, that's great.

This in fact is the first time
in archeology in North America

that this kind of night flight
revealing a structure

as well as the actual
plan of a prehistoric town
is being revealed.

This aerial view is going to
be one of our best records

of what this site actually looks
like before it disappears.

[ Music ]